To Re-Tweet or Not to Re-Tweet…That is the Question. Does it Help Book Sales?

tweets logo (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

In answer to that question:  Probably not much.

What tweets do is help your SEO‘s.  That is important for sales.  Re-tweets give you exposure.  People that read Twitter get to know an author’s name and book title(s).  That is also important.

If I re-tweet to my followers about a book and the author’s name, it is possible that one or two will do the same for me.

In some cases, the readers go and check out the reviews.

Just how important are reviews?

My opinion is that reviews are what authors lives for.  I have a few bad reviews on Amazon.  That is going to happen.  Why the reader picked my book to read, when it is not the genre that they normally read, is puzzling.

I look at the review and say, “God Bless Them.”  Then I look at the four and five star reviews and smile.  In the case of my novel, “The Wolf’s Moon,” the good reviews far outweigh the bad. 

Do I tweet about how many reviews are four and five stars?  No.  On Amazon I have fifty something reviews and that is wonderful but I have many more from people who emailed me directly giving me five stars.

Many said Amazon would not let them review the book as they did not buy it but got a copy on a free day or a book signing.

Is this true?  I never question my readers, but it really doesn’t matter.  The fifty plus reviews were statements saying it was a good story.

In the end, yes, book sales are why we write and go through the pains of self-publishing.  Yes, I would like to make the New York Times Best Seller list and see book sales skyrocket.  I don’t expect that to happen.

When I tweet something about “The Wolf’s Moon” and I have ten others re-tweet it, then I know two things:

1.  The name of my novel is reaching more people, and

2.  I have met some very wonderful people – mostly authors.

Tweeting is one of many forms of advertising, as is re-tweeting.

Berlin Marathon 2007 (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Doris-Maria Heilmann with 111Publishing once said that selling a book is not a sprint, it’s a marathon. To me that means I have to use every method and mode to get my name in front of the public, as well as the name of my novel.

Tweeting and re-tweeting are just a few of the methods that we can use.